Day 83-Kenpo X

Today was another butt kicking exercise. Last night we did Legs & Back, which was tough. But it has totally paid off. My legs are starting to look really good. Kenpo was fun, of course. It is still probably my favorite exercise out of all of them. Today I noticed something weird- my breasts have shrunk. In a totally good way. They no longer sag. I think that is awesome, and a totally unexpected result of this workout program.

I look at other people and think-gee, anyone could get into shape. I know the direction I was headed, and how much harder it would have been if I was further along that path. But I was able to change my life around, and now it is almost a game to see how much more I can lose/gain. Because while I'm losing body fat and weight, I'm actually gaining so much more. I'm gaining strength, endurance, confidence, and tone. I haven't looked this good, well, ever. I'm not exaggerating. I also haven't felt this good ever. And anyone can do it! There's no secret formula. Ok, well, there is. But it isn't secret. Exercise, eat right, get plenty of rest, and your body will take care of itself. One thing I've realized is that there is no right way to exercise. Just burn the calories, and your body will thank you. I'm glad we're doing the P90X though. Because I'm getting stronger in all the right places. This is the first year ever that I've been excited for swim suit season. Not that I've been shy in the past. I've put on a bikini every year for the past 5 or 6 years. But this year I'm excited to walk on the beach and show off my new body. I might even have to get a new suit. My old one was from my honeymoon, and I'm definitely smaller now than I was then. Even though stress had made me lose quite a bit right before....

Anyways, I should get some homework done. I'm teaching a couple lessons at school today. We'll see how that goes.

More later,
Pam

Day 82!!

Ok, so I haven't worked out yet today, but I thought I would give a quick update before I head off to school. Yesterday, day 81, was Yoga, and I did it myself at home while Matt did it at work. Day 80 was Back and Biceps, and I worked so hard on that exercise, knowing it would be the last one this round. My biceps are still sore today! Plyo on Friday was butt kicking! Holy cow! We were both sweating up a storm. It will be a completely different experience working out in the summer...

Speaking of summer, I'm already looking forward to Round 2. So far (since I measured myself for the Helm Health Challenge) I have lost almost 9 1/2 inches. (!!) It is hard to believe. But yesterday, when I put on a pair of jeans that used to fit me really well, I notices that the waist is way too big for me.

Oh, and the new sports bra I bought on Saturday is awesome! It works really well, is really supportive. Totally worth the money.

After school today I'm going to do the workout. I think it is legs and back. Oh, boy. I hope I'm ready for that. Give my arms a break, anyways, right?

Sorry the updates aren't coming too quickly. I kind of got off track, especially with going to London for a week. I'm just glad that I didn't gain any weight. I never thougth I would get down to 135 pounds again. Ever. I'm excited to see what round 2 will bring. Oh, and since we still have a week and a half of round 1, who knows what will happen.

I almost forgot. I'm running a 5K on Saturday. Eek! I am not sure how that will go. It has been a long time since I've run any distance. But I'll have a great time anyways.

Talk to you later. Gotta run.

Pam

Day 71 - Plyo

Plyometrics is the most evil idea of a work out any one has ever thought of. This work out is a true test of your ability to do cardio, but it is cardio on crack. I am so determined every time I start to finish it doing every last move, but goodness, it is so intense!!! I am still amazed that after each workout I feel way better then I did before the work out, it is amazing that all this working out is giving me so much more energy!

-Matt

P90X - Day 70 - Skinny boy taking on P90X

Ok so I am skinny, in fact incredibly skinny. I weighed in at some where just above 135 when I started and have a lot of trouble gaining weight. I am now hovering just about 10 pounds heavier, and don't have shred more body fat =) which BTW on my electronic scale is pegged at the low of 5% Now if you are rolling your eyes and wishing you had my problems stop reading this. I am just like every other person in the world, I want to be better then I am and for me that challenge is to put on weight, just like most people are trying to lose it I make up excuses why I can't gain and how I can't seem to put on any muscle or weight period but I can see now my fault.

My scale has a BMR calculator built in to it. It tells you what your "metabolic age" is and how many calories you need to maintain your weight. In case you did guess allready my metabolism is crazy high, for my entire life I have been a snacker, a person that constantly eats a lot of little things, never really eating a huge amount at any given time. Additionally I start every morning by eating a yogurt right away, which jump starts the metabolism (eating anything right away is good, but I love yogurt =) So my entire life I have been doing the "right" stuff to maintain a high metabolism.

So as a consequence my scale says I need 3700 calories to maintain my weight... While that isn't quite true, because I can eat much less then that and still function. I can also tell you that I can snack and eat anything I want and not gain a pound. Well my problem is that I never have eaten enough before to gain weight. And now that I am realizing that my scale is probably telling some what near the truth I am struggling to eat enough calories to put on some muscle.

Anyways, I guess I am trying to say that I realized just like most over weight people have delusions about how many calories they need to eat vs. how much they actually eat. If you are skinny and want to gain weight, you probably are just as delusional as the over weight people, just in the opposite way. It took me a long time to realize this about myself and try to over come it.

-Matt
PS: The progress is amazing, I feel like a new person and a strong person now, I love what this program has done for Pam and I, we are so much healthier, stronger, confident then we were just 70 days ago. Commit and you will make amazing gains!

Day 66- Matt

Wow, wow, wow. This has been an awesome experience P90X is working like nobodies business. If you stick to the plan, have a partner to keep you going, and push hard, I am pretty confident that you will feel better about yourself then you even have before.

-Matt

Day 62 - Kenpo X

Well Pam challenged me to do this workout and I am glad she did, I've been needing some help to keep my chin up work is beating me down pretty good, so it is so nice to have Pam push me and keep me doing what I know I should be even when it is hard.

P90X is hard, yesterdays leg and back is like our 8th time doing it and it still kicks my butt! But today's Kenpo X was almost invigorating, I pushed hard and feel good!!!!

Here's a picture, after I worked out so I am a little pumped, and with a nice overhead light to give nice shadows, but I am putting on some muscle =)



-Matt

Day 62- Kenpo alone

I was so sad to have to do Kenpo alone today. That's one of my favorite exercises to do with Matt. All the kicking and punching are really fun. I set the alarm this morning *gasp* I know. I ended up getting up at around 7:30, so I was done with the workout by 8:30. Can you believe it? It had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I had a 4 page paper to get done, along with some other BS homework to do. Actually, that was part of it. The other part was that I wanted to prove to myself (and Matt) that I could actually do it myself. I think I've been proving that a lot lately. In fact, yesterday, Matt and I did Legs and Back, and didn't have time for Abs before he had to go to work. I picked a good time in the afternoon, after lunch, and did Denise Austin's Power Yoga/Pilates, which was an extra hour of abs. Then I did Ab Ripper X, which was insane after all that. So I got an extra hour of workout in this week. Are you proud of me? I am proud of myself, which in the end is probably all I can ask for.

Oh, and btw, I'm wearing pants right now that I bought for myself in between my Junior and Senior year of high school (I know, I know, why do I still have pants that old? Well, they're cute, and I actually didn't get a lot of use out of them. I grew out of them pretty quickly. Oh, and they were pretty expensive. I bought them in Alaska that summer). Anyways, they look great, I think. I'll have Matt give the final verdict when I get home this evening, if he's still awake. Tuesdays are not my favorite; getting home after 10:30pm sucks, especially if I haven't seen Matt since Monday morning. *sigh* Evening classes.

Ok, well, must get the rest of my BS homework done. Then head for class. I feel pretty great today, I feel like I look cute. My new haircut (just like my old one) is awesome!

TTYL!
Pam

PS. Matt better get some butt kicking Kenpo done this evening, or there will be punishment involved :)

Pam-We did so well in January, whatever happened to February?

So I was looking at how many posts we had for January, and I think we posted almost every day. Then February happened, and Phase 2. I think I was a little disillusioned when I didn't make as much progress during Phase 1 as I had hoped. So I didn't post on the blog for almost the entire Phas 2. Which is a shame, because maybe if I had been blogging, I would have forced myself to notice all the little changes that were going on in my body. The changes that I wasn't really noticing. Then, Day 60 came (ok, day 56) and we took measurements. It seems like overnight I went from a little pudgy to more and more trim. I can't believe how many inches I lost! And that Matt gained almost as many as I lost. That's amazing. And when I climbed on the scale this morning and my weight was 136.8 pounds, my heart almost stopped beating. I don't even remember the last time I weighed this little. But it isn't about weight. It is about my body's changes. The curves I didn't notice were there just last week. The fact that my waist is getting tiny. And that my legs and calves are shrinking. Matt felt some muscles on my back that haven't ever been there before. I never knew that your knees could get fat, and I didn't notice mine, until the fat started disappearing. I guess you never know what you have until you lose it, huh? :)
Anyways, my point is, I feel great. And I think I look great. And I have no idea how much further we can take this. We still have more than 4 weeks left in the program! Imagine how much better we are going to be after it is all said and done.

Oh, and btw, the spicy Chinese noodles we had for lunch were DELICIOUS! I was a little skeptical, until I read the recipe and realized peanut butter was involved. And it was so easy!

OK, I guess I should get back to my homework. I just wanted to blog, so that since it is the first day of March, I can try to get a lot more posts in this month than last. It helps that I'm liking my results. Hallelujah!

Pam

Matt - For the record

Our scale has this feature where it will tell you what you "metabolic age" is, it does some magic calculations and comes up with the equivalent age that your metabolism is running at. Well I have always loved that feature because my metabolism has always been read as that of a 12 year old (which is as low as the scale will go).

But Pam has always hated it, it has told her that she has the metabolism of a 29 - 30something year old. Today was an awesome day, the scale finally told her that she has a metabolic age of a 26 year old, which is way exciting because she is 27 =) I told her that she is looking like she is 26 and getting younger every day. She is just looking spectacular.

About P90X, it has been great, it continues to be great. Every morning I continue to think, I should be lazy and not work out, but I keep going. Its easy to keep going because the results are amazing, and the plan is so easy to follow!!! Anyways I gotta go convince Pam to east breakfast now =)

-Matt